Walp's Restaurant Sold - But Stays In Family

January 08, 1986|by DAN SHOPE, The Morning Call

Five months ago, Donald Walp and his sister, Thelma Walp Barnes, celebrated their restaurant's 50th anniversary. Yesterday, they sold Walp's Restaurant to Frank Nickischer of Allentown, their former general manager and Donald's brother-in-law.

"We're selling, because my sister and I are both approaching 70 years old," said Walp, the former president of the business at Union Boulevard and Airport Road in Allentown. "She's 68, and I'm 69. Frank has been our manager for the past 30 years. He's also my brother-in-law, being that my wife, Teresa, is his sister."

So the sale is all in the family, but not the immediate Walp family. For the first time since Robert and Blanche Walp used $5,000 cash value in insurance policies to open a modest restaurant at Fenwick Street and Union Boulevard in Allentown in 1936, a Walp won't be running the establishment.

Donald and his sister Thelma, formerly the company's treasurer, are the founders' children. They were satisfied with yesterday's sale, thoughthey declined to disclose the sale price for the business and the property.

"It will still be a family operation," Donald said. "Frank began his career with Walp's at the age of 16 in 1947. Except for four years at Penn State, where he studied restaurant and hotel management, and three years in the Navy, he has been with us continuously. He's been our right-hand man."

For Nickischer, it's been a big week. He married the former Judy Mohr on Jan. 1 and returned from his honeymoon for the settlement on Walp's. Judy has become the new vice president-treasurer of the company.

"This is something I've been waiting for since I started working there at age 16," said the 54-year-old Nickischer. "I always knew I wanted to get into ownership. I don't expect many changes in policy. The restaurant has been under my policies for some time. We're going to continue doing the same thing."

Walp's is one of the oldest restaurants in The Morning Call area. It employs 80 people and serves about 500,000 customers per year in the 600-seat building.

"Under Frank's ownership, Walp's will remain a part of our family, and we can be assured the business will continue as usual," Donald said. "Our emotions are mixed. We're happy to turn the operation over to Frank, but we're saddened to lose our contact with the customers we have grown to know over the years."